Sheriff’s Office Conducts Three Rescue Missions in One Day

The Platte County Sheriff’s office called dispatch at 8 a.m. and said that two men who got stuck near Fletcher Park Monday afternoon were able to make it to a cabin at Camp Grace and take shelter.

Albany County deputies began to respond with a Snow Cat, but that team was directed instead to respond to the area of Esterbrook Road in northern Albany County where the Converse County Sheriff’s office was trying to reach a group of 12 people stranded near the Albany/Converse County line.

The 12 stranded people were riding ATVs on Esterbook Road and were overwhelmed by the snowstorm. They started a fire near some trees and stayed there through the night.

Albany County Undersheriff Rob DeBree said the group did the right thing by staying together.

The Sheriff’s office says the Converse County rescue team got stuck at some point during the search as they tried to make their way through nearly six feet of snow.

The press release says as the Albany County snow cat responded, two more deputies got on their snowmobiles traveling through between four and five feet of fresh powder on Esterbrook Road about five miles from Fetterman Road when the Sheriff’s office truck and trailer got stuck. The deputies traveled 11 miles before reaching the stranded party.

There were 11 adults at the makeshift camp along with a 5- or 6-year-old child. Everyone was reportedly in good health, though they were a little hungry.

The snow cat arrived and immediately took eight people back five miles to the waiting Converse County deputies. The other four people left the area when the snow cat returned on a second trip, and the Albany County deputies returned to Laramie around 9 p.m.

The Albany County Sheriff’s office coordinated with the Platte County Sheriff’s Office to send a snow blade out to assist the two men stranded in the cabin at Camp Grace. They were removed in good health.

An earlier call at 5:45 a.m. told deputies that a man had not checked in with family members Monday evening. Family members said the man enjoyed building snow caves and staying in them overnight.

Deputies determined that he might have been in a snow cave near the Green Rock parking lot off Highway 130.

As deputies began to respond on snowmobiles, one of the man’s friends called the Sheriff’s office saying he knew the snow cave’s precise location and could take deputies there from the parking lot. Deputies arrived to find the man healthy and in need of no further assistance.